By AARON BRACY

Philahoops Columnist

@Aaron_Bracy

Regardless of the quality of the opponent – and, frankly, it wasn’t that high – there are a lot of positives to take from Saint Joseph’s 81-62 home-opening victory over Marist on Wednesday night.

Foremost among them, for me, was observation the freshman DeAndre Bembry is legit. For the second game in a row, the rookie opened the Hawks’ scoring with a made 3-pointer. He finished with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting.

The numbers don’t come close to telling the story, though.

Bembry gives St. Joe’s a certain balance, offensively and defensively, that the Hawks have been missing. He can guard an opponent’s top perimeter player, allowing shooting guard Langston Galloway to save his legs for doing what he does best, shooting and making 3-pointers. A relaxed Galloway scored 20 points against the Red Foxes, hitting 6 of 8 shots, including 3 of 5 from the arc.

He can score the ball outside and inside, allowing point guard Chris Wilson to look for his teammates first and worry about his scoring second – if at all.

At 6-foot-6, he can see over smaller guards to get the ball into the paint to Ronald Roberts and Halil Kanacevic, who now can receive those passes rather than make them from the arc as he did much of last season.

And Bembry provides a certain intangible that is hard to describe, a relaxed confidence and cool presence that makes his teammates feel comfortable around him on and off the court.

“He’s got a really nice way about him,” St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli said. “He really takes in what you give him. He’s a quick study in terms of scouting reports. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

So are his teammates.

“There are weapons all around me,” Wilson said. “There’s not pressure on me to score. DeAndre is a wing that can attack and get to the basket.”

Said Galloway, “He’s definitely a slasher and he definitely he helps us out. Normally they’re going to focus on me and Chris, so him being able to be there and get those easy baskets is definitely helping us out.”

Bembry has just kind of taken it all in stride, sort of unaware of his status as a freshman. If he felt any nerves about his first college home game, it was impossible to tell – particularly after cooly draining the first shot he took.

“I’m just comfortable playing basketball, playing like a point guard position, making passes, the extra pass, scoring the ball when I need to,” Bembry said, before explaining the opening 3. “I’ve been doing that forever throughout all of my teams somehow, just knock down the first shot. It’s just a rhythm thing. It helps the whole team.”

He does what he needs to in order to help his team without going overboard.

“I would say I am relaxed,” he said. “Some freshmen try to come in and do too much. I just score when I need to, make the extra pass, and try to make the plays a college player should do.”

Maybe it’s that attitude which has ingratiated him with his teammates, something that’s not always easy for a freshman on a veteran team to do.

This looks like a group of players that enjoys each other.

“The chemistry is definitely a big thing,” Wilson said. “We have all guys connecting, everybody is on the same page, everybody wants to pass to the next man, everybody wants to do good. There are no egos on this team. Everybody knows they’re going to have their night; everybody knows that every night is not going to be their night. I think we have a really selfless team.”

Whether that will transfer into a really good team, one that can contend in the Atlantic 10 and be in the discussion for an NCAA bid is to be seen. Saturday’s home game against Doug McDermott and Creighton should give a better gauge.

For now, the Hawks will embrace the good vibe that Bembry, a freshman, has helped create.

“He’s a good player,” Martelli said, “on a good team, with a good bunch of teammates.”

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-Aaron Bracy is the Philahoops.com founder and columnist. Share your thoughts with Aaron at [email protected], @Aaron_Bracy on Twitter and/or in the comments section below.